Maryland, Virginia didn't adjust gas tax for inflation; D.C. clinic accused of fraud; Va. votes on adoption regulations that could affect gay couples; Maryland advocate wants tax increase on smokeless tobacco; D.C. campaign finance office releases latest report; Md. Delegate O'Donnell to challenge Hoyer; Metro: Crime dropped in 3rd quarter; Microsoft eyes St. Elizabeths property; Report finds Prince George's among Md.'s unhealthiest counties.
Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell said Wednesday he plans to keep his state leadership role while running for Congress next year despite questions about whether his candidacy could be a distraction.
The House on Friday rejected a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, falling well short of the two-thirds vote required and signaling a striking slide since the amendment's high point in the 1990s.
Fifteen years ago, the budget deficit stood at $107 billion, government debt totaled about $5 trillion and a balanced-budget constitutional amendment came within one senator's vote of passing Congress, buoyed by the likes of then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden, who made an impassioned plea on the floor for its adoption.
The House's No. 2 Democrat says the nation will suffer if the congressional debt reduction committee fails and mandatory spending cuts kick in, staking a position that the panel must reach its goal of finding ways to slash $1.5 trillion from the federal debt.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the China currency bill is the most important jobs legislation Congress can enact, while House Speaker John A. Boehner calls it "dangerous" — and the White House has refused to take a stand.
Conservative Republicans joined House Democrats on Wednesday to defeat a stopgap funding bill.
Party leaders on Capitol Hill are digging in their heels over a stopgap funding measure to keep federal agencies open next month, raising the threat of government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
U.S. taxpayers risk losing more than a half-billion dollars from the collapse of solar-panel maker Solyndra Inc., but former Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld and his associates stand to earn a windfall in fees representing the bankrupt company in coming months.
